Herring help!

[Big Bad Voodoo Lou]

Hey, folks. Since getting a Costco membership, I have been buying and enjoying these huge jars of pickled herring in wine sauce, usually on bagels or Ritz crackers. The wine sauce is sweet, and it has onions and peppercorns floating in it. Though my wife thinks it is gross, I really love herring for a quick, reasonably healthy breakfast. But beyond the omega-3 fatty acids, eating herring brings me back to my childhood when we'd get bagels on Sunday mornings with cream cheese, lox, and the "naughtier" herring in sour cream sauce.

Well, here in Orlando, we are lucky to have the International Market & Deli, a new grocery store that stocks products from Russia, Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. I've been sampling things little by little (my most recent purchases include a huge jar of ajvar, a can of dolmades, a container of fresh chopped chicken liver, and a surprisingly un-sweet stuffed cabbage), and I also bought my first two containers of herring from the well-stocked refrigerated case. Aside from Cyrillic writing on the labels, I just went with two that didn't look too "scary" and weren't bargain-basement cheap, but weren't overly expensive either. I believe they are both maatjes herring, and both were packed in oil.

Upon my first tastes (with Ritz crackers, natch), I hate to admit it, but I prefer my familiar herring in the sweet wine sauce with onions. The oil tends to be heavy and overpowering, and both brands of fish taste much "fishier" than I'm used to. Would it help if I just drain the containers completely, or will the oil help the fillets last longer in my fridge? Anyway, one of the herring brands is EXTREMELY salty. The label had a picture of a red pepper with the herring, so I was hoping for something a little spicy, but instead I get a mega-blast of salt from every bite. It also has pine nuts floating in the oil, which seemed like a head-scratcher to me. The other brand in an oblong plastic container was less salty and had a slight bit of sweetness, but still wasn't what I expected. I intend to finish both containers, though -- I hate wasting food.

Anyway, I know there have been long, well-researched, brilliantly-written posts on sampling sardines, so I thought this would be the place to turn for herring help. Does anyone have access to a similar Eastern European market? Can anyone recommend good (better) herring brands, or provide ideas to improve the herring I bought or recipes to get through it faster?

[kellychan]

My wife is russian and she likes "herring under a fur coat" which is a cold layered salad. boil beets, carrots, and potatoes. grate or jullienne them all. from the bottom up the layers are: potato and herring, mayo, green onion or hard boiled egg, carrot, more mayo, and beets. let percolate for an eternity.

here is an actual recipe http://www.all-fish-seafood-recipes.c...
doesn't look or sound apetizing but let me tell u the russians know what they are doing when it comes to herring. you wont be disappointed.

i have found that in russian salads, expeller pressed canola mayo is the way to go. it is insanely expensive but for special occasions its worth it. if this particular recipe doesnt do it for you, google herring salad. you will find recipes from all over northern and eastern europe.

[BobB]

My wife is also Russian, and we're in Boston, which has an abundance of Russian emigres and the stores that serve them, so we're spoiled for choice, and never bother with bottled herring as there are so many fresh-made options. By far the best in my opinion, both for flavor and texture, is the type called "Tsar's Herring." It's a simple yet subtle pickled herring with no bells and whistles (i.e., no extraneous matter like onions or pine nuts), not too salty, perfectly filleted. If you can find a packaged version of this it should be worth trying.

[JungMann]

The herring packed in salt and oil should be chopped and mixed with vegetables and dressing for a salad. Alone it can be pretty overbearing, but once tamed down with vegetables, you'll find the oil and salt to be one note in the dressing.
http://www.enjoyyourcooking.com/salad...

Pickled herring can also be made into myriad different salads. You will start with a base of cream, sour cream, mayo or yogurt, add alliums (onions, scallions, chives, etc), possibly a sweet element (apples, beets, sugar, pickles) and possibly some herbs for a basic salad. My personal favorite is a combination of onions, scallions, smoked ham and hard boiled eggs in yogurt dressing.